Speculation: Roster Building Thread : Part XVI (Playoffs or Retool?)

[Puckholm]

With the Rantanen trade, would anyone argue against Carolina being the Capitals main challenger for the cup? The odds of getting through an ECF this year aren't that appealing.. Would rather take advantage of Washingtons need to muscle up after the Rantanen trade.

Behold my best Bern - contender by 2026. Of course this is a lot easier when you get to work with the assumption players would want to play for Rangers as long as we pony up.

Trade 1
To Washington: Panarin, 50% retained + Filip Chytil
To Rangers: Ryan Leonard, 2027 1st, Andrew Mangiapane (cap dump)

I bet Washington would be one of few teams Panarin would consider waiving for. A decent enough city and legit contender with a window matching his contract duration.

Prying Leonard from them felt near impossible a few days ago but Rantanen going to a rival could force their hand. Chytil fills their need for a third line center and Panarin gives them monstrous scoring depth.

Trade 2
To Vancouver: Igor Shesterkin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider
To Rangers: Elias Pettersson, Thatcher Demko

Would this be a deal to make them pull the trigger on EP rather than JTM? They need to get out of their mess somehow and Allvin needs to see similar star power in the return package, ergo Igor. Canucks have a dire need of goaltending but can't let go of EP without atleast a 2C in return. Zibs nixed the trade last time but if Kreider makes him company.. Huzzah?

Getting Kreider "for free" and getting rid of Demko compensates for Mikas high risk contract.

I'd argue Igor & EP are the perfect swap as they're both undeniable elite players, but with questionmarks about their cap hits on lengthy contracts.

Cap wise we'd send 5,67 + 8,5 + 6,5 = 20,7M their way while receiving 16,5 in return. As Canucks have 4,1M in DDL space this just about clears it.


Remaining trades
Meh, just grab as many picks as possible for Quick / Lindgren / Smith or earing salary. Miller I'd hold onto (2x4M?), maybe Borgens hive mind gets him back on track. Zac Jones will never fetch a lower return than now and could get a shot with serious icetime after Lindgrens departure.


2025 UFA
It'd be incredibly fun to do Carolina over by indicating we'll go big-game hunting by clearing out insane cap space. More soft tampering to the people!

Mikko Rantanen - 7 years at 14M. Give the man what he wants. Should it fail, we pivot to Marner.
Marcus Pettersson - 6 years at 5.75M
Will Borgen - 3 years at 3.25M

2025 Roster
Mikko Rantanen - Elias Pettersson - Random veteran winger with DDL-value
Will Cuylle - Vincent Trocheck - Alexis Lafreniere
Brennan Othmann - Johnny Brodzinski - Arthur Kaliyev
Adam Edström - Sam Carrick - Matt Rempe / Brett Berard

Marcus Pettersson - Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller - Will Borgen
Zac Jones - Braden Schneider

Thatcher Demko
Dylan Garand

Perrault & Leonard getting some experience in AHL with the potential of being phased in mid season.

2026 UFA
Jack Eichel, (Cap space from Panarins retention ending + cap increase)
Filip Gustavsson, (Demkos cleared 5M + Borgen or Scheiders cap space)

2026 Roster
Mikko Rantanen - Elias Pettersson - X
Will Cuylle - Jack Eichel - Alexis Lafreniere
Gabriel Perrault - Vincent Trocheck - Ryan Leonard
Adam Edström - Sam Carrick - Matt Rempe

Marcus Pettersson - Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller - Will Borgen or Braden Schneider
Jones / Fortesque / Emery - Victor Mancini

Filip Gustavsson
Dylan Garand

Main dilemma is first line RW. If neither Othmann, Kaliyev, Perrault or Leonard had a massive breakthrough during 2025 we could burn some of the draft picks gained this year to pick up a veteran winger at 50% salary from some rebuilding team.

Same goes for 2LHD if Miller doesn't come through in 25/26, bundle him with a pick or two to get a reliable veteran LD with a friendly cap hit for two years while our prospects get some AHL seasoning.

Don't burn my Bern.

 

[Flan the incredible]

Because it's a message board where we speculate on possible trades. Just because neither is likely to be traded doesn't mean we can't speculate on trades that we believe would work.

If we're going to limit ourselves only to what we believe Drury will do, this might as well just wait for him to do it and then talk about it.

Again you use the word possible as there is a chance its going to happen. Its not they arent waiving their NMC. Take a second and accept that.

Let me add to that as I would love for Zibs to be traded for an upgrade too. He isn't waiving it.

 

[noncents]

Again you use the word possible as there is a chance its going to happen. Its not they arent waiving their NMC. Take a second and accept that.

Let me add to that as I would love for Zibs to be traded for an upgrade too. He isn't waiving it.

i think Panarin could.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Again you use the word possible as there is a chance its going to happen. Its not they arent waiving their NMC. Take a second and accept that.

Let me add to that as I would love for Zibs to be traded for an upgrade too. He isn't waiving it.

Why do people act like it’s literally impossible to trade someone with a NMC.

If a team makes it known they don’t want you anymore nobody is going to do the opposite of a holdout .

Even Trouba was adamant about how important it was that he Be in NY with his wife accepted a trade 5000 miles away

 

[Puckholm]

With Lucas Edmonds signed.. If Drury mumbles well enough it's close-ish to Lucas Raymond and might fetch you Alexis Laferriere plus a 1st from Kings. We then mumble a bit more and Alexis Laferriere will turn into a 2nd Alexis Lafreniere who can be packaged with the 1st pick for both Elias Petterssons of Vancouver. To wrap it all up we then send Elias Pettersson to Detroit for Lucas Raymond but make sure it's the Defenseman EP who arrives.

Rebuild finished after netting Elias Pettersson and Lucas Raymond while giving up no more than Ryder Korczak. Finally Drury makes sense!

 

[GAGLine]

Again you use the word possible as there is a chance its going to happen. Its not they arent waiving their NMC. Take a second and accept that.

Let me add to that as I would love for Zibs to be traded for an upgrade too. He isn't waiving it.

Whether it's possible or not, what gives you the right to tell others what they can and can't discuss? How about you just ignore it?

 

[zlev]

am I the only one who doesn't think the Rantanen trade makes Carolina that much better? awesome player, but so is Necas. it would've been different if they could've added Rantanen without giving up a 1st line forward. still not afraid of them at all.

 

[effen]

just looking at rangers cap sheet.. jesus what a mess. it's hard not to be negative.

Consider: Laf is on a 49 point pace, down from 57. his contract looked like a borgen, now more like an albatross. How is he going to fare without Panarin?

League is chock full of middling early to mid-20s guys who got extended at 7M-8M/yr just to score 40-60 points. If for nothing else you can always swap Laf for some 7th tier shitkicker like Dylan Cozens.

 

[LionsHeart]

Necas is good, but Rantanan is a helluva player. Great move for them.

 

[80s Kid]

Why do people act like it’s literally impossible to trade someone with a NMC.

If a team makes it known they don’t want you anymore nobody is going to do the opposite of a holdout .

Even Trouba was adamant about how important it was that he Be in NY with his wife accepted a trade 5000 miles away

Impossible...of course not. The issue I have is with trade ideas that don't acknowledge or differentiate between players who have no clauses, NTC and NMC. It's much more difficult to trade someone with a NMC and even if you can, the player is going to have control over the destination.

I'd love to be able to trade Mika but it would be incredibly difficult to do so. This is an area I'll give Bern credit because his crazy trade ideas still acknowledge the fact that Mika has a NMC and factor it into the proposal.

Trouba did not have a NMC. He had a M-NTC when he was traded. He could be waived and Mika could not (among other things).

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

League is chock full of middling early to mid-20s guys who got extended at 7M-8M/yr just to score 40-60 points. If for nothing else you can always swap Laf for some 7th tier shitkicker like Dylan Cozens.

It’s true. Byfield got an extension and he’s on pace for like 35 points

 

[80s Kid]

am I the only one who doesn't think the Rantanen trade makes Carolina that much better? awesome player, but so is Necas. it would've been different if they could've added Rantanen without giving up a 1st line forward. still not afraid of them at all.

It's certainly debatable. I also look at it as Carolina selling high on Necas and betting that his production this year cannot be sustained.

 

[SA16]

The question isn't if they are better with Rantanen than Necas but if they are better with Rantanen over Necas plus Miller or whatever they would have spent the cap space on instead, without removing their leading scorer from the lineup.

 

[Flan the incredible]

Why do people act like it’s literally impossible to trade someone with a NMC.

If a team makes it known they don’t want you anymore nobody is going to do the opposite of a holdout .

Even Trouba was adamant about how important it was that he Be in NY with his wife accepted a trade 5000 miles away

Because a NMC is what it says. Why do fans pretend its anything but what its meant to be?

Trouba did not have a NMC so not sure why you think its the same.

 

[lakeshirts37]

The X-factor is their cheapskate owner. Can't see him ponying up $14M annually for 8 seasons.

He might be fine with it considering the rest of their payroll….

i'm not sure what Gavrikov wants, but those numbers to me are very low.

Borgen gets 5mm, Miller gets 6.5.

Neither of them will get anywhere near that.

 

[Flan the incredible]

Whether it's possible or not, what gives you the right to tell others what they can and can't discuss? How about you just ignore it?

You can live in denial all you want and post whatever nonsense that you want but don't get pissy when other people call you out for not being in reality.

Alao what gives you the right to tell me what to post? You were also free to scroll right past my post but you didn't.

 

[lakeshirts37]

am I the only one who doesn't think the Rantanen trade makes Carolina that much better? awesome player, but so is Necas. it would've been different if they could've added Rantanen without giving up a 1st line forward. still not afraid of them at all.

Yes, you are the only one.

 

[Flan the incredible]

i think Panarin could.

You want to bet? Guaranteed he isn't being traded this year.

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

A lot had been said about Carolina’s balls but McFarland deserves a shout for his too.

Moving a big part of your roster when you’re firmly in a playoff spot is a tough call. It’s the right call since they’re sure they can’t keep him but it’s not one every GM will make.

Ours may hold on to bum ass Lindgren bc the team got hot despite him being terrible over the same stretch.

 

[noncents]

You want to bet? Guaranteed he isn't being traded this year.

no, i'm not arguing that he will be moved or will waive to be moved.

 

[Clark Kellogg]

 

[GAGLine]

You can live in denial all you want and post whatever nonsense that you want but don't get pissy when other people call you out for not being in reality.

Alao what gives you the right to tell me what to post? You were also free to scroll right past my post but you didn't.

The key difference is that you're calling out a bunch of people for discussing a topic you don't like.

I'm only calling out you for trying to police other people's discussions.

But in the spirit of agreeing to disagree, how about we both shut up about it and let people discuss whatever they want.

 

[CasusBelli]

I'm reasonably certain he was looking at those deals in the opposite direction, suggesting we should trade a guy like Panarin for younger NHL players.

Mika is a 32-year-old with time on the contract at 8.5 mil. Would you want to trade for him if he was on another team?

There's no guarantee that Miller will continue to play well. His numbers are already down this year, a la Mika last year. Maybe that can be attributed to the locker room tensions, but there's no guarantee that he will play as well on the Rangers as he has with Vancouver. Different coaches, different systems, different players.


And turns 32 in less than 2 months. He's actually a month older than Mika.

That’s my point exactly about Mika, who was a non starter in the trade talk. The serious offer revolved around Chytil and Lindgren plus futures.

 

[bernmeister]

With the Rantanen trade, would anyone argue against Carolina being the Capitals main challenger for the cup? The odds of getting through an ECF this year aren't that appealing.. Would rather take advantage of Washingtons need to muscle up after the Rantanen trade.

Behold my best Bern - contender by 2026. Of course this is a lot easier when you get to work with the assumption players would want to play for Rangers as long as we pony up.

Trade 1
To Washington: Panarin, 50% retained + Filip Chytil
To Rangers: Ryan Leonard, 2027 1st, Andrew Mangiapane (cap dump)

I bet Washington would be one of few teams Panarin would consider waiving for. A decent enough city and legit contender with a window matching his contract duration.

Prying Leonard from them felt near impossible a few days ago but Rantanen going to a rival could force their hand. Chytil fills their need for a third line center and Panarin gives them monstrous scoring depth.

Trade 2
To Vancouver: Igor Shesterkin, Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider
To Rangers: Elias Pettersson, Thatcher Demko

Would this be a deal to make them pull the trigger on EP rather than JTM? They need to get out of their mess somehow and Allvin needs to see similar star power in the return package, ergo Igor. Canucks have a dire need of goaltending but can't let go of EP without atleast a 2C in return. Zibs nixed the trade last time but if Kreider makes him company.. Huzzah?

Getting Kreider "for free" and getting rid of Demko compensates for Mikas high risk contract.

I'd argue Igor & EP are the perfect swap as they're both undeniable elite players, but with questionmarks about their cap hits on lengthy contracts.

Cap wise we'd send 5,67 + 8,5 + 6,5 = 20,7M their way while receiving 16,5 in return. As Canucks have 4,1M in DDL space this just about clears it.


Remaining trades
Meh, just grab as many picks as possible for Quick / Lindgren / Smith or earing salary. Miller I'd hold onto (2x4M?), maybe Borgens hive mind gets him back on track. Zac Jones will never fetch a lower return than now and could get a shot with serious icetime after Lindgrens departure.


2025 UFA
It'd be incredibly fun to do Carolina over by indicating we'll go big-game hunting by clearing out insane cap space. More soft tampering to the people!

Mikko Rantanen - 7 years at 14M. Give the man what he wants. Should it fail, we pivot to Marner.
Marcus Pettersson - 6 years at 5.75M
Will Borgen - 3 years at 3.25M

2025 Roster
Mikko Rantanen - Elias Pettersson - Random veteran winger with DDL-value
Will Cuylle - Vincent Trocheck - Alexis Lafreniere
Brennan Othmann - Johnny Brodzinski - Arthur Kaliyev
Adam Edström - Sam Carrick - Matt Rempe / Brett Berard

Marcus Pettersson - Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller - Will Borgen
Zac Jones - Braden Schneider

Thatcher Demko
Dylan Garand

Perrault & Leonard getting some experience in AHL with the potential of being phased in mid season.

2026 UFA
Jack Eichel, (Cap space from Panarins retention ending + cap increase)
Filip Gustavsson, (Demkos cleared 5M + Borgen or Scheiders cap space)

2026 Roster
Mikko Rantanen - Elias Pettersson - X
Will Cuylle - Jack Eichel - Alexis Lafreniere
Gabriel Perrault - Vincent Trocheck - Ryan Leonard
Adam Edström - Sam Carrick - Matt Rempe

Marcus Pettersson - Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller - Will Borgen or Braden Schneider
Jones / Fortesque / Emery - Victor Mancini

Filip Gustavsson
Dylan Garand

Main dilemma is first line RW. If neither Othmann, Kaliyev, Perrault or Leonard had a massive breakthrough during 2025 we could burn some of the draft picks gained this year to pick up a veteran winger at 50% salary from some rebuilding team.

Same goes for 2LHD if Miller doesn't come through in 25/26, bundle him with a pick or two to get a reliable veteran LD with a friendly cap hit for two years while our prospects get some AHL seasoning.

Don't burn my Bern.

I am obliged to be both honest and critical here as I am with everybody.
But you get props for extending props


that said,
my guess is Leonard is STILL too high a target to acquire
even w/caps wanting to run up Ovie's totals
I see you think Rat man makes a dif, but I don't see it
Short term it is light's out, but too much youth for age will def bite back in the ass -- hard -- w/o a corresponding reciprocal move

as to a Kreider - zib package + getting back Elias Pett, this is a no for multiple reasons, in no particular order:
1) ck is damaged good on and off
that may be the new future for him going forward or it may be temporary
the back is not as easy as other parts of anatomy to estimate here

this means his value is reduced and unless someone wants to overpay without assuming a good reason, it is smarter to hold him, even give a reduced role, and keep.

2) zib
I want him gone and I do not want him to win
he was selfish wigging out w'o good reason for 6 or so wks and I don't want him to think he controls things and dictates Kreider has to go if he does
eff that
zib can sit til hell freezes over and we can get by fine

regardless of the above
we think van does not want zib
zib does not want van
and van is not crazy about keeping miller

imo van does take zib IF IF IF he is max retained and an el cheapo special for scraps
PERIOD
otherwise, do not want
and again, zib has to approve, so while kudos for the effort, not seeing it

3) Elias Pett.
be wary. his knee is a ?
you are remembering him a year-ish ago
he is worth the risk esp since there is a dearth of pivot depth league wide, but we should not take it unless other circumstances made it worthwhile
if we got EP and could flip him + for dobson +, I would go there
but it's not clear NYI don't do that directly, either

4) don't want Rant or Marner esp at 14m
while 99% chance that McDavid stays at whatev league max is + extra 8th yr he gets, or even if he goes yr by yr to have more control, only thing we can do to entice him is to build best winning team. He did say somewhere he "just wants to win" going forward, or words to that effect.

The best way to win is NOT to go all in -- IT IS TO MAX THE WINDOW
this means rule is dealing vets for quality youth = cheaper = better roster mgmt

finally
5) I would sell high on Shesty + Fox
but best return on Igor is LA
Shesty + Tro + Jones + small add(s)
for
Byfield + Helenius + Clarke + Lauzon + pick
something like that

 

[mrmovies779]

i'm not sure what Gavrikov wants, but those numbers to me are very low.

Borgen gets 5mm, Miller gets 6.5.

In no universe is Borg getting 5...nevermind..I forgot gm's are dumb